


What You Do Know

by decreasethesurpluspopulation



Series: Making A Change [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Helpful Charlie, Helpful Sam, How Many Times Has She Had to Save Their Asses, M/M, Mostly Crap, Sad Castiel, Some angst, That There's A Tag For It, There's A Tag For That, nothing to see here folks, we all need jesus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-03-22
Packaged: 2018-10-09 05:48:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10405287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/decreasethesurpluspopulation/pseuds/decreasethesurpluspopulation
Summary: Sam calls the best of the best to help him solve a mystery.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I basically suck.  
> LIfe's wild, what can you do?  
> Anyway, here's this. Not sure why it's there, but oh, well.

Charlie is enjoying her Tuesday afternoon at her favorite coffee shop, drinking her Espresso Patronum and making great headway on her latest project (definitely not watching irrelevant YouTube videos with people dancing in giant paper mache heads formed in the likeness of certain actors) when her phone goes off, loud enough to draw the attention of the few other patrons in the cafe. Yikes.  
She lugs her bag off the ground digging through all the junk before locating it. Charlie briefly wonders why Sam is calling her, but answers anyway, “Yellow, go for the Queen,”  
“Charlie? We’ve got a bit of a problem on our hands.” Sam sounds concerned, exasperated, and pissy, which usually means it has something to do with Dean.  
“What’s the sitch?” She couldn’t resist.  
Sam gives a surprised bark of laughter, “Nice. Kim Possible. Anyway, so get this, I came home yesterday morning, and the place was spotless, cleaned from top to bottom, and you know Dean, I was so not expecting that, because-”  
“Sam, given the warning you gave me a few days ago to not go to your house until you gave the all clear because those two idiots had finally said out loud to each other what everyone had unfortunately already seen for years, I’m going to tell you that I do not want to hear the gory, nekkid details.” She pauses for a moment, and rephrases, “At least, not from you. ‘Cuz, dude, that’s your brother, and love is love, but there are lines that shouldn’t be crossed- ”  
“Ah, Jesus, Charlie, no!” She hears some rustling as Sam switches his phone from one ear to the other, “No, that’s half the problem. When I came home, the place wasn’t a wreck, it was practically untouched. And Dean was baking, Charlie.”  
“O...kay?”  
Sam impatiently explains, “Dean compulsively cleans and cooks when he’s having some kind of emotional, self-hate meltdown.”  
“Oh, right. He was always a weirdo like that.” She remembers vaguely the few times he would come over to rant and end up cleaning her dorm room in college. Pretty convenient way to vent your anger if you ask her, which she tells Sam.  
Sam huffs a laugh, “Yeah, well, this time’s pretty bad.”  
“Well, where’s Cas?”  
“Yeah... That’s the other thing, I don’t know. He’s not here.”  
Charlie rolls her eyes, wondering why she continues speaking to these imbeciles. “What, he’s not there with Dean?”  
Sam lets out a heavy breath, “He wasn’t here when I came home yesterday, and when I mentioned him, Dean basically shut down.”  
“Yikes.” Charlie leans back in her chair in surprise, knowing this will take precedence over her work. “Have you tried calling him?”  
She hears another classic-Sam sigh, “No. I mean, he’s not gonna answer, I’m his boyfriend’s brother, you know?”  
“Well, you guys were all friends long before they were boyfriends, Sam. Maybe he needs a friend, and not a boyfriend’s brother, hm?” Charlie knows that not too long ago Cas and Dean were at one point Cas, Dean, and Sam. Obviously, Dean and Cas were always closer, and when they were younger, they were nearly inseparable, but Dean never went anywhere without his little brother.  
“Yeah, I know. And I’ll give it a shot, Charlie, but really. I’m getting kinda worried. Dean was acting cagey and baking, and now he’s not here.”  
“First, Sam, you gotta stop saying ‘baking’ like it’s a dirty word. I can’t take you seriously.”  
Sam sputters, “Whatever. Charlie, I called you because-”  
She cuts him off, “I know, I’m amazing, but that’s beside the point. Second, Dean isn’t there?” She begins packing up her laptop, and leaves some cash for the coffee. And a big tip. And her phone number. Waitress was friggin’ hot.  
Anyways.  
“No, I took a nap and when I woke up he wasn’t here and he took his keys so who knows where he’s run off to.”  
"Took a nap, what is this amateur hour, Sam?" She goes out the door and turns down the street. “Crap, well, what were you able to get out of him?”  
“He wouldn’t tell me anything, just that it, whatever it is, it was his fault.”  
Charlie hmms thoughtfully, “That explains the baking.” She takes another sip of her coffee, balancing it expertly between her laptop case, before suggesting, “Maybe they had a fight?”  
Sam huffs a resigned breath. “Yeah, maybe. And it wouldn’t be the first time, of course. Just that this one seems worse. Usually they both stew for a few days and then they come crawling back to each other, and- ”  
“They don’t resurface for a couple days and when they do, they’re grinning at each other like idiots? Yeah, they’re gross.”  
Charlie takes a second to come up with a strategy before she continues.  
“Well, you know what let me try to call Cas, I’ve got a pretty good idea of where he might be. Just keep trying to call Dean, see if he’ll break if you annoy him enough.  
“Okay, I know you have class in an hour, but don’t freak out and go too far ‘kay? We don’t need to Winchesters on the loose.”  
“I’ll be fine, Charlie. I’m just gonna try to hit some places he might’ve gone...”  
“Good plan, see you soon. I’ve got another call to make.”  
“Thanks, Charlie.”  
Charlie doesn’t miss a beat as she adjusts the strap of her case and pulls up the next contact in her phone. Surprisingly, there’s only one and a half rings before it’s picked up.  
Unsurprisingly, he answers with a heartbreakingly hopeful, “Dean?”  
Charlie waits a beat and answers as gently as she can, “Not exactly, hon.”  
She knows her kindness didn’t do much to ease the pain, and she hears some quiet throat clearing, before a forced, “Oh, hello, Charlie. How are you?”  
She barely resists rolling her eyes at his steadfast politeness, “I’m good, Cas, how are you?”  
Again, another throat clearing, yet his voice is still a tad rougher than it’s usual gravel. “I’m doing well enough. How is your work going?”  
Damn, usually she can get him to talk pretty quick, and being that he is naturally honest and unashamed, he’s obviously much more open about these things than Dean. But, Charlie thinks, if Cas is deliberately avoiding the subject, things might be worse off than she thought.  
“It’s going just as well as it can.” Charlie stops at the next street, buying herself some time. She’s honestly not super sure how she wants to approach this now that she’s got him on the phone.  
She tries for playing dumb. “Well, I’m in the neighborhood, so how about I bring us some coffee and -”  
“No!”  
Charlie smirks, this might be easier than she thought, “No?” she asks innocently.  
Castiel sputters on the other line, “I, well, I’m not at ho-ome, uh, not at home at the moment, so there’s no point.” Charlie’s heart aches at the way he stumbles over the word. These two really screwed each other up, didn’t they?  
Well, she didn’t come this far just to get a no, “How about we meet for coffee somewhere, then? C’mon, it’s been ages since we’ve hung out, Cas.” And never mind that she’s had about three cups today already. Really, really hot waitress. Like, woah.  
Anyways.  
He hesitates, but his ever-persistent manners and etiquette work in her favor as he agrees to meet her in fifteen minutes.  
Charlie thanks the universe for her luck that Castiel suggested that new hole in the wall just a few more blocks down, because she wouldn’t have a good excuse to give him had he suggested going to the cafe she just left like a madwoman. 

 

At twenty-five minutes past what they agreed, Charlie spots him as he walks in, and the little lost look on his scruffy face has her cursing Dean and making a mental note to strip him of his title in her court. Granted, he is just a handmaiden, but he will rue the day he incurred the Queen’s wrath.  
“Castiel!” She calls him over and meets him halfway, pulling him into a hug as soon as he’s within reach. As they separate, she pretends that he didn’t just sigh the saddest sigh she'd ever heard in her existence.  
They sit down on the cushy loveseat and she turns to him, “How are you, my brave knight?”  
Yes, Castiel is her knight, and Dean was pissed when he heard that Cas was ranked higher than he was, but pledged fealty to her when he saw the sex-haired, blue eyed man decked out in his full battle armour. “I was beginning to worry you had stood me up.”  
Those blue eyes crinkle softly with a half-smile at the reminder of his dabbling in LARPing, “My sincerest apologies for making you wait, my Queen, I am honored to be in your presence.”  
“All is forgiven.” She takes a minute to look him over as he orders. The lack of sleep and stress certainly visible in his eyes, and his unshaven, pale face leads Charlie to believe that he hasn’t left the house much this past week. Speaking of which, “Cas, I’ve gotta tell you, you look terrible.”  
Castiel looks thrown for a second, but chuckles hollowly, “Well, I appreciate the honesty. Please, do go on.”  
Charlie shrugs, but tries to look sympathetic, “Sorry, buddy. What have you been up to these past few days?”  
He glances away for a moment, before the stoic facade is perfectly in place. “I’ve been visiting my brother, and you know how Gabriel is.”  
She nods, “I do.” Charlie had suspected as much. Gabriel had more than a few times asked for her help with computers, specifically security. What a bartender needs with high-class computer protection she doesn’t really want to know.  
After a few more moments of silence, he speaks up, “I’m sorry, Charlie, I am not very good company today.”  
She decides to risk it and go right for the throat, “Cas, I just got off the phone with Sam, and-”  
“Oh, God,” Cas puts his head in his hands, and sighs again. “What did I do?” She’s a little bewildered by the abrupt segue, and can pats his back comfortingly.  
He lifts his head, eyes red and spilling, imploring her, “Charlie, I love him. He doesn’t want me to, and that should be reason enough to stop. But- I… Why can’t I stop?”  
Her heart aches a little more for her friends, and again she finds herself asking what the hell it was that they did to each other.  
“Do you wanna lemme know what happened, hon? I can almost guarantee that whatever it is, he just being a drama queen.”  
Cas shakes his head, “I can’t, I’m not truly sure I know what happened myself.”  
She puts an arm around him, and hugs him, “Well, start with what you do know.”

**Author's Note:**

> So... yeah... Mostly experimenting with Charlie's character in this. I think I could work on her more, she's usually wittier and spunkier in other fics.


End file.
